Around 40% of lymphomas, all undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC) and about 10% of gastric cancers carry the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genome and express viral proteins that can be targeted by adoptively transferred EBV-specific T cells (EBVSTs).
EBV+ malignancies occurring outside the setting of immunosuppression express only 1 to 4 of about 90 EBV proteins and whilst these antigens are poorly immunogenic, they provide target antigens for EBVSTs.
Ongoing clinical trials concerning the use of EBV-specific T cells to treat EBV-positive malignancies employ EBV-transformed B cells in the expansion of EBV-specific T cells (NCT02578641), or involve stimulating PBMCs with peptides corresponding to EBV type II latency antigens (NCT01555892).